Staccato Note
brittle leaves scatter along the empty street stars wavering in the chilling breeze rusting and rustling trees in the lamplight waxing moon growing to fullness I am…
God’s Scarecrow
The people stood by and watched; The rulers, meanwhile, sneered at him ~ Luke 23:35 Husk and shell of yourself, and yourself only nothing But so…
The Half-Girl
Sit down with me and settle in. In just a moment, we’ll begin. It’s hard work to tell these tales. It’s harder work to listen well, But…
The Back Side of the Sun
When I cry with bitter tears, such that if you happen to wash in their pool I fear you may get poisoned, don't send your reasonable questions…
The Hundred Sounds of the Wood
I would sleep better knowing I was near to The hundred sounds of wood Wood carved, cut, sawed, splintered Soft wood snapped underfoot, Hard wood cracked by…
According to Zuckerman
Life is the adventure of losing your way: how wise that sounds, such a reassuring anapaestic paradox, but is it true or merely clever? The adventure may…
Four for Just One
1 What use, what reason, can there be In loving like this, where there is No certain promise of equal return? But expressed, written out like this,…
A Thousand Ships: A Poetic Trilogy
Song for a Myrmidon A thousand ships sail with you my son To a foreign land and endless beaches of sand. My arms I gave you when…
Appalachian Morning
In Memory of Willmoore Kendall They live here, these forlorn people—no riches to relinquish; their dawn no different than any other’s on this morning. But what…
To the Valley Beneath Beacon Rock
If we’re waiting east of Eden, Then heading west just makes good sense. There, the days of August evens Lie gentle on a valley fenced By Beacon…
In a Dry and Fiery Season
He holds back the waters and there is drought; He sends them forth and they overwhelm the land -Job 12:15 There hasn’t been a gust of…
With Pedro Romero before the Bull
He’s not seen two decades of suns, His skin is brown and blistered with memory; Our companion nervously folds his fingers, Pedro Romero buttons up his green…
Hedgelaying
Instead of a fence, we laid a hedge: not shrubbery you’d find in magazines, but a breathing barrier of rods and pleachers brought together to keep the…